


Beautiful is the winter maple, dressed in red

by Tobi_Black



Series: illusions cast upon the Space-Between-Doors [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Alternate Universe - Tobirama survives, F/F, Femslash February 2019, Gen, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, past Uzumaki Mito/Hashirama Senju
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-21 02:26:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17634263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tobi_Black/pseuds/Tobi_Black
Summary: Mito had loved and lost once in her life, a love that would go down in the history books for who he had been. The history books were washed in half-truths and bitter lies though.They forget she’d loved another too with all the fire of the beast in her belly.Just as they forgot Tobirama had never hated the Uchiha – particularly one specifically.





	1. Chapter 1

Mito had stepped back from the door as Tōka had thrown it open, watching as the older woman had crossed the room in two long strides before catching Tobirama in a bone-crushing hug. He was throwing wide-eyed _help me_ looks her way, awkwardly patting the other woman on the back until she let go, but Mito didn’t step in.

It did him good to see that he would have been missed not because he had been the Nidaime, but for being _Tobirama_. It was something she’d been trying to make clear to him for a decade now, because her late husband had been blind in the worst ways when it came to his brother some times. Tobirama had just needed a kind touch, a grateful look, praise and thanks, once in a while to know he was worth more than his ability to act as a truly terrifying weapon in the hands of first his father, then for his brother, and later for Konoha.

She’d kept him from doing anything stupid after Hashirama had died, mostly by almost literally sitting on him and forcing him to grieve like a normal human being instead of boxing it up alongside the grief still hanging over him for his dead younger brothers. Then the war had happened, and he’d been on the frontlines far more than she thought was coincidence. She could admit that it kept the war from getting too close to the village, because there was nothing like Tobirama in a protective rage to slaughter an enemy and keep them at bay, but it had been reckless.

Mito wouldn’t call her brother-in-law _actively_ suicidal, but she’d been concerned that he was passively. It had been why she’d _suggested_ the Goei Butai, to ensure that if he wasn’t alone out there. It had been easy to _suggest_ that his old team of Hiruzen, Koharu, and Homura be nominated, along with her old team, because while the first three had a fondness for their old teacher, she was ruthless enough to manipulate the fact that Kagami had harbored a crush on Tobirama since the last days of the Warring States and Danzō hero-worshipped him for nearly as long, to make sure they would keep him alive.

It had worked because she saw how that almost outright _reckless_ bent she could see even if no one else but Tōka could, tapered off. His risks had been more calculated, strategic, until the last few days before this last mission.

Then he had been right back to old habits, while she’d been reminded far too much of the clansmen who had been getting their affairs in order before suiciding on an enemy. She hadn’t been able to stop him, hadn’t been able to _demand_ that he talk with their new allies the Yamanaka, because he had been needed on this mission.

She would now though, because she believed him – she believed he _wanted_ to be a father, but she didn’t trust what sort of headspace he was in right now. If she voiced her concerns to Hiruzen, he could make it an _order_ , just as Tobirama had done for any number of shinobi that hadn’t voluntarily visited a Yamanaka after a far too reckless stunt in the field. That was for later though, right now she just watched how Tōka had moved on to ruthlessly checking him over herself for any wounds that might have gotten missed.

Byakko laid in the hallway on the outside of the door, very clearly blocking the way in so they wouldn’t be disturbed, occasionally letting loose a low rumble to warn off anyone trying to approach.

She knew it would only stall Kagami though.

The Uchiha hadn’t been in a very good state of mind since he’d thought Tobirama had died – eerily reminding her of Madara, snapping and snarling and red-tinted eyes, after he’d lost his brother. She’d seen the same thing in several other Uchiha since, who had lost someone they’d loved, particularly if they witnessed their deaths. Mito had just made the mistake of not realizing that Kagami had gone past crush before this last mission, because then she might have made it abruptly clear that if need be, _he should have dragged Tobirama home_. Kagami would have done it without hesitation, if he’d been aware of how likely Tobirama would have tried exactly what he had.

The others wouldn’t be far behind Kagami, even if Danzō would give the tiger a wide respectful berth after he’d accidentally woken Tōka while the two of them had been taking a breather leaning against the large cat by stepping on his tail. As it was, there was perhaps another minute before they got inside the hospital – thirty seconds for Kagami with how she could sense he was blowing through the halls with a single-minded purpose.

When the rumbling from Byakko rocketed up a notch, she turned to see Kagami.

He was immediately right beside Tōka, eyes a brighter red that was nearly sharingan-bright if he just channeled a little chakra that way.

“Tobirama-sama! You’re awake still!”

He was smiling wide, hands fluttering around because he clearly wanted to touch and check like Tōka had, but he didn’t have the older man’s permission.

Tōka stepped back next to her, and they shared a secret smile because while they had been loosely seeing each other this last year, often snickering over how obvious Kagami’s pining was late at night after a few drinks, both of them had noticed how Tobirama was a little soft on Kagami himself.

Tobirama had had no intention of ever acting though, not while he was not just Kagami’s commanding officer in the field, but his highest authority figure outside of his clan.

Mito was a little surprised at the small smile Tobirama gave Kagami – though she wasn’t at how _vibrantly red_ the younger man suddenly went at the sight – before he shifted just enough that Kagami came in contact, purposely enough that there was no way it was an accident but it would have to be Kagami’s initiative.

Tōka twined their fingers then, leaning against her shoulder as even if the older woman had hidden it well for years, she’d always been a soppy romantic and _that_ had nearly been a declaration of love from Tobirama. Mito tightened her grip, leaning right back because while Tobirama had the most interesting blind spot about any romantic interest his way, _Kagami_ wasn’t blind to the motion.

His eyes were wide as he touched Tobirama’s shoulder gently, fascinated for a moment at the rare sight of a bare neck without wolf fur, before he remembered _why_ he’d nearly stepped over his boundaries and immediately started fussing.


	2. Chapter 2

The other five members of Team Tobirama tumbled through the door in a rush over atop Byakko just as Kagami went full steam ahead into Uchiha Mother-Hen and started lecturing Tobirama on proper sleep schedules now that he was back home safe, with real meals at least three times a day, fluffing pillows and pilling blankets up around Tobirama.

Koharu smiled at them, the only one to notice how they stood with how Torifu immediately joined in on _you-need-to-eat-more-Tobirama-sensei_ train, Danzō and Hiruzen were bickering about who managed to pile more blankets atop the growing hill on Tobirama’s legs, and Homura was backing Torifu and Kagami up with _facts_ to support what they were saying.

She clapped her hands loudly, “BOYS, sensei isn’t going anywhere. We all live together remember? And are going to raise a child together if sensei is willing?”

Tobirama immediately perked up in the middle of his blanket mountain, looking a little flushed.

“Sprog?”

They were all a little stunned at how openly – for Tobirama anyway – excited he was, with his eyes just a bit brighter and tone just a bit happier than most had ever heard him speak with outside of jutsu creation.

Tōka and Mito weren’t surprised though; Tobirama had absolutely adored his nephews from the moment he realized Mito was pregnant, and he’d always been particularly attentive to any Senju, then later, village, children he came across. Now he had the chance for one of his own, and he was just shy of the Tobirama equivalent of beaming in happiness.

Kagami’s jaw dropped a little, eyes spinning with the sharingan and face the color of Mito’s hair.

Koharu reached over and tapped a couple of fingers to his chin with a smirk, before smiling at Tobirama.

“Yes. They are just a bundle of cells right now, but yes. You have a child, with Kagami as the other parent.”

The albino smiled faintly, just a slight quirk of his lips, and Kagami wobbled in place, Danzō catching his shoulder so he stayed upright.

“ _Thank you._ ”


	3. Chapter 3

Mito left after a while of watching the seven of them be reunited, Tōka following a moment later with a soft smile on her painted lips.

She tucked her arm into the other woman’s, glad that for once, a shinobi’s need to gossip meant that the rumor mill had run out on them long before they were ever together.

They’d discussed that the feelings had been there for longer than either of them had been comfortable admitting – even after Hashirama had given both of them individual permission to pursue something well before he’d passed suddenly. Even after he had died, they both had said nothing as they continued their almost dates, unsure if the attention would be welcome, until Tōka had almost died on a mission. While her skills hadn’t dulled in the slightest, she was nine years older than Tobirama and both had passed the life expectancy for a shinobi by more than a few years, and Mito had been unable to live with herself if she’d passed up a second chance to be happy because she was a coward.

Tōka had had the same idea – giving that rogue-ish grin Mito had loved long before she would admit it, her long hair free of her top-knot and loose around shoulders graced with a lovely yukata in a dark red, carrying two bowls of their favorite ramens into the tea house Mito had asked her to meet at, having already ordered their favorite teas. It had been almost a year since then, and they’d been _happy_ even in the middle of this war.

Even as Tōka had been forced to remind their world that she’d been the third strongest of the Senju for a reason – that if the top two spots hadn’t been occupied by Hashirama and Tobirama, both known as a God of Creation for their skills, she might have been the strongest – and the only one amongst her clan capable of rivaling a Uchiha’s skill in genjutsu. Mito had painted her lips the color of blood, painted seals into the skin of her back for the strength to shake the earth.

Even as Mito had been forced to remind the world that she was nobody to trifle with, that Tobirama had left for the frontlines because he had trusted her to guard the village in his absence, and raised a barrier around their home that would not fall as long as she lived, powered with her near-infinite wells of chakra as an Uzumaki, when a scout team tried to breach the Wall. Who died gruesomely for their transgression, given no mercy. Tōka’s hands had shaken slightly as she grasped her pale face, and kissed her reverently, thanking her for protecting this place that was as much real as it was Hashirama’s precious dream.

Tōka smiled at her right then, reaching up and pulling her hair out of her top-knot because for better or for worse, the war was over, and now was a time for peace, a time for being happy. They would be happy for themselves, regardless of what else anyone thought or said, because they had come out of another war _alive_.

Mito pulled her lover down by her hair to kiss her.

The older woman laughed against her lips, breathing her words into her mouth when they didn’t separate.

“How much do you want to bet Tobirama will get tired of waiting for Kagami a few weeks after his newest decision to allow the boy to court him?”

Her own grin was fox-ish, and the _kitsune_ sealed behind her stomach echoed her own thoughts.

“No bet.”

 ** _That baka won’t last that long once he realizes the boy likes him back_**.


End file.
